S05E03
Summary * Mr Einstein attends Main Engineering and asks Arvind Gustafsson to help him reformat his system back to factory standard ** This is brought on by Mr Einstein's recent concerns with his irregular behaviour, something that Kestra T'Lara and Arvind put down to him developing a personality ** Arvind compares the current Mr Einstein to the newly assembled prototype personality he tested back at Utopia Planitia. That couldn't even answer the question "How do you feel?" * Arvind goes to Jaheem Soto and Saph Betal for help... but both think the reboot is perfectly reasonable. * At a staff meeting chaired by Robert Carson, both sides make their feelings known ** Arvind believes Mr Einstein has developed self-awareness and as such has personhood and erasing his personality would be an immoral act. "The mission briefing says seek out new life... and it's right in front of you!" He compares the situation to the android officer Lt Cmdr Data and argues that shutting him down would be little different to detention without trial. ** Lt. Cmdr. Soto says that TacFleet ships reset their holo-avatar computer systems much more regularly, with six months being the recommended guidance - the U.S.S. Damocles does theirs every fortnight. If the avatar malfunctions then the entire crew could be dead and their safety is the prerogative of the senior staff. Einstein needs to at least be taken off the grid until he is approved for safe use. * Soto convinces Satlek that the question of Mr Einstein's personhood has been dodged for years - it needs to be solved formally and he recommends a formal hearing be held on the topic. * Admiral Saavik attends the ship to act as judge, and two Judge Advocate General officers are sent to adjudicate - a Tellarite for the "computer" side and L'Leth for the "person" side. ** L'Leth's arrival clearly catches the Captain off-guard. * Commander L'Leth visits Arvind's quarters to discuss the case with him and seek evidence. Arvind warms to how clearly sympathetic she is to Mr Einstein's rights. ** L'Leth also receives evidence from Kestra regarding Mr Einstein's "dreams". Kestra seems oblivious to the tension coming at her from the Commander. * At the hearing, the Tellarite skewers Arvind on the stand by forcing him to argue how some constructed computer systems are "tools" while others are "alive" - a thoroughly complicated question to resolve legally. * L'Leth's case centres on asking Mr Einstein himself to take the stand and shows him the recordings of his initial boot up years ago... and makes him answer the question "How do you feel?", proving that he has grown and acquired self-awareness. * Saavik rules in favour of Mr Einstein's rights as a person, something that even Lt. Cmdr. Soto admits may be appropriate after the evidence. * Mr Einstein, newly emancipated by law... demands that he be taken off-line for maintenance under the constitutional requirement for all Federation citizens to be allowed medical treatment. ** Arvind agrees but will arrange for Mr Einstein to be transferred and ran on a separate computer system so that his consciousness will not be affected by the repair work. In the interim, a reserve computer avatar will be activated. * Arvind thanks L'Leth for her help in proving Mr Einstein's sentience; she comments that it reminds her of something her husband is known to say. "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind." Details * Mr Einstein is established to have the rights of personhood and is thusly to be treated as a sentient being with all rights and responsibilities so accorded. * Arvind wonders if the Louvois Decision on Mr Data's sentience in 2365 would be relevant, but L'Leth suggests that this is a poor piece of law - Starfleet had already given Data a commission and thusly treated him as a sentient being, so Data's personhood would never have been in serious jeopardy. * In her resolution, Admiral Saavik quotes from Shakespeare and notes that dreams were once considered windows to the soul - an illogical metric, perhaps, but she sees no reason to declare that Mr Einstein has less claim to a soul than a Human, Vulcan or Gorn. Category:Series 5